Democrat John Edwards said the Bush administration’s plan to sell $20 billion worth of weapons to friendly Arab states amounted to a foreign policy of convenience and he will take a tougher stance with Saudi Arabia if elected president.

John Edwards. “Tougher.” Tee-hee.

Edwards said the United States should require the Saudi government to shut down the movement of terrorists across its borders, help stabilize the Iraqi government and participate more seriously in regional security before they are offered weapons.

Such a nutroots quandary: Attacking Bush’s Saudi coddling=good. Singling out Arab countries=bad. What to do? What to do?

At least we now have Johnny E. on record supporting national security profiling and border enforcement somewhere in the world. Just not here at home.

***Put this on a bumper sticker, John Edwards: Jihad in America is real. Every time another al Qaeda-linked operative pleads guilty, the war on terrorism deniers roll their eyes. Downplay the seriousness of the plots. Decry racial profiling. And question the timing. The usual suspects will have the usual responses to yet another in a long line of self-confessed soldiers of Allah on American soil–this time, the Ohio shopping mall bomb plotter Nuradin Abdi:

A Somali immigrant the government says plotted to blow up an Ohio shopping mall pleaded guilty Tuesday to conspiring to provide material support to terrorists. Nuradin Abdi, 35, entered his plea before U.S. District Judge Algenon Marbley a week before his trial had been expected to start Aug. 6.

The Justice Department accused Abdi of suggesting the plan to attack a Columbus shopping mall during an August 2002 meeting at a coffee shop with now-convicted terrorist Iyman Faris and a third suspect, Christopher Paul.

Faris is serving 20 years in a maximum-security federal prison in Florence, Colo., for his role in an al-Qaida plot to destroy the Brooklyn Bridge. Faris scouted the bridge and told al-Qaida its plans wouldn’t work, court papers have said.

Federal agents arrested Abdi the morning of Nov. 28, 2003, the day after Thanksgiving, out of fear the attack would be carried out on the heavy shopping day. He was arrested at 6 a.m. while leaving his Columbus home for morning prayers.

Prosecutors say Abdi gave stolen credit card numbers to a man accused of buying gear for al-Qaida, and lied on immigration documents to visit a jihadist training camp.

Tra-la-la. Nothing to see here, move along. Just another hapless “lone nut” who meant no harm when he provided material support to aid violent jihad, which doesn’t exist in the make-believe world of John Edwards and his ilk.

***

Forget about jihad, of course. Many Dems are busying themselves with impeachment. Lawhawk catches Nancy Pelosi playing both sides of the issue in an interview with left-wing journalists. Turns out she’d be for it if she didn’t feel like she had to be against it as speaker of the House:

If she were not in the House–and not Speaker of the House–Nancy Pelosi says she “would probably advocate” impeaching President Bush.

But given her current role as party leader, at a breakfast with progressive journalists today (named after our great friend Maria Leavey) Pelosi sketched her case against impeachment.

“The question of impeachment is something that would divide the country,” Pelosi said this morning during a wide-ranging discussion in the ornate Speaker’s office. Her top priorities are ending the war in Iraq, expanding health care, creating jobs and preserving the environment. “I know what our success can be on those issues. I don’t know what our success can be on impeaching the president.”

Notice that fighting jihad on the homefront is not on that list of priorities. I’m giving Lawhawk the last word here:

Pelosi’s view is one of 9/10, and one that proved to have fatal outcomes.

This is what passes as leadership in the House. Keep this in mind when you think that your vote doesn’t count or if you intend to sit out in 2008. Your votes do have consequences, and should have consequences.